Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Running a Marathon

Here a great video. Bryce has learned to say hello. He loves talking and chatting away as well. This video was taken Monday April 22nd. Thirteen hours later, we rushed Bryce the children's hospital ER for severe respiratory distress. His little body was breathing so hard and the retractions were frightening for me. I knew right away we had to get him to the hospital. The training and education from our doctors prepared us for this moment.

Within 24 hours, vitals significantly improved and he seemed accepting treatments of c-pap and high flow nasal cannula.

We plan to stay another 2-3 days as he is improving, they are slowly reducing the oxygen. In order to leave the intensive care unit, we need to be able to get Bryce breathing on his own and continue to improve. The learning experience for us is that when he fights off this bug, his little body is basically running a marathon. His vitals initially were 170-220 for heart per min, Oxygen levels were 85 - 90, now he is resting with 90 heart beats per min, 96-100 oxygen level. We are doing c-pap every 2 hours except if he is sleeping they want to keep him asleep. I am concerned we could be here longer just because his little body has worked so hard to breath. It was very traumatic for him and for us - at least we were prepared and knew what to do when we saw the severe retractions in his rib cage and stomach.

Our nurses have been really great. Our initial nurse - so experienced and he knew how to keep us calm and explain details to us well. The night gal, has been consistent and is amazing. Its not a complete break, but being at the hospital is some relief - help with food, changing diapers, moving around his equipment - and I can focus on my sweet boy.

Our Weekend Prior

Exceptionally Wonderful visit with Family

The weekend getaway was perfect for all of us. A gorgeous stay along the Columbia River - warm sunny weather, and a chance to relax. Spending time with family is so inspiring and motivational. We really enjoyed meeting Mason and introducing him to Bryce. Love cousins!!!

Bryce loves watching people - he loves watching birds and the ducks too.